The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1887-03-24
PARIS BULL FIGHT.
NO oBtecTioN CAN BE URGED ON
THE SCORE or CRUELTY.

A Performance In which Bsrgh Could
Find Little tn Censars-The Monarch
Of the Ring M Mild hammered As . Jer-
ssy Miiei, Cow.
There are to be no more bull fights. The
government forbids them But why, ]
can't imagine, and haven't been able to
find any one who can tell The petition
for q renewal of the sport was signed by
NJ Clemenceau and NJ. Paul de Cassagnac
and . great host of public men But
President Grevy said no, and no it is.
Certainly the objection cannot be ON the
score of cruelty. Nothing could be more
amiss- I went to the opening perform
ance, and certainly more innocent show
/ never saw. There were to be, we were
told, real Spanish bulls and real Spanish
bull fighters, and il was to be altogether
. real Spanish bull fight. Alas, for Spain!
The hippodrome was crowded. One-half
the spectators were ladies. Wealth and
beauty and fashion and aristocracy were
there in great force The arena was ar
ranged in orthodox fashion. The ground
was covered with white sand The posts
were draped with crimson cloth. There
was a close board fence six feet high all
around the outside, separating the arena
from the front row of spectators By
space SIX OF SEVEN IccJ Whcs into
the bull fighters could leap for safety
when hard pressed by the ferocious beasts.
Thus all things were ready. The fight
ing men marched in, made the circuit OF
the arena and saluted the audience. Then
there was a blare of trumpets, and the
gate Of the bull pen was thrown open.
Our hearts stood still for moment with
expectation. We looked TO see huge
monarch of the plains rush in, with red
| trimmed eyes and frothy muzzle, eager and
| furious for the fray But mol For a space
| none came Then there appeared a dimin-
| utive bull surely not more than years
| old, and small for that age He came in
| reluctantly and We could see the tips Of
several goads behind him, urging him for
ward
SOHELY BEwILDERED-
He entered the arena with a sorely be
wildered and frightened air, and slowly
walked forward to one of the red draped
posts. Against this he began rubbing his
head and neck, as cattle do against the
trees in their pastures. His horns, l mo-
ticed, were small, and on the tip of each
was fastened, for safety's sake, metal
| ball as big as door knob, Presently he
turned and walked toward one of the
men, who quickly ran away The bull
looked after him as If puzzled, and then
turned toward another. The second man
| stood his ground until the Ouil was clOSS
TO him, and then, after the manner of d
circus acrobat. jumped over the animals
back The bull presently entered into ths
spirit of the fun, and trotted briskly about
from one man to the other. giving each &
chance 70 jump over him. Then he wen
up to ,he board fence. and, as il was
fiimsy structure, soon poked hole in 4
and junIped through. There were severn
men in Che safety ring, and when the,
saw the bull jump in they jumped out IL
a hurry and the bull trotted Hesurel,
around until he came to gate, which
some one had opened, and then he wen
back into the arena.
This operation WAS gone through twice
Then the men got a lot of red, white AM
blue rosettes- stuck them to his sides will
daubs of glue, and led him away il
triumph. This was all there was TO tn
performance, the same play being re
peated over and over again with new
bulls. There was nothing even approx
mating to danger, and there was nothing
half as exciting as the average riding in
circus. High prices were paid for ad
mission to the first show under the ide
that there would he something very ex
citing, but almost every one was disaI
pointed, and if the government had nc
: forbidden any more fights L doubt
, they would have secured paying patron
age.-Paris Cor. Chicago Tribune